The Grand Rapids Griffins battled back from two one-goal deficits to defeat the Milwaukee Admirals in a 3-2 overtime decision on Friday night, marking their ninth straight victory after an inauspicious start to their 09-10 season. The Griffins' website provides a solid recap...

November 13, Griffinshockey.com: Milwaukee (6-5-1-2) used a 5-on-3 power play to pot the only goal of
the opening period. From the right goal line, Cal O’Reilly found Ryan
Jones on the doorstep for an easy redirection past Thomas McCollum at
10:11.

The Griffins answered with their own power play tally 6:44 into the
second period, as Mattias Ritola deposited a rebound of Kris Newbury’s
shot from the right side. Newbury’s helper extended his assist streak
to seven games, tying a Griffins single-season mark accomplished five
times before and moving within one game of Valtteri Filppula’s overall
franchise record that spanned the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
Newbury’s streak is a career high and the longest run in the AHL this
season.

Another power play goal gave the Admirals a 2-1 lead with 5:01
remaining in the frame. After an initial save by McCollum, Dave
Scatchard pounced on a juicy rebound in the slot and slipped the puck
through a crowd, past the sprawled netminder and just inside the right
post.

Grand Rapids again tied matters at the 7:42 mark of the third
period, when [Doug] Janik fired a shot from the left point that [Patrick] Rissmiller
tipped inside Chet Pickard’s far post to force overtime.

...

Doug Janik’s one-timer from the right circle 1:21 into overtime gave
the Grand Rapids Griffins a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals on
Friday, improving their perfect mark at Van Andel Arena to 8-0 with
their ninth straight victory overall.

...

McCollum rebounded from a hand injury earlier in the week to post 25
saves and his fourth consecutive win, while Pickard made 26 stops in
defeat.

The Griffins are now two wins shy of tying their franchise records
for longest winning streak both at home (10 twice, most recently Jan.
23-Feb. 27, 2004) and overall (11, March 5-31, 2006).

The Griffins' website reports that the Red Wings re-recalled Daniel Larsson after the game, and re-signed Sebastien Centomo to an amateur try-out contract to fill in as McCollum's back-up...

And the Grand Rapids Press's Steve Vedder spoke to the Griffins about their eight-game home winning streak:

November 14, Grand Rapids Press: "We're on a good run," said the Griffins' Patrick Rissmiller, whose
third period goal tied the game at 2-2 with 12:18 remaining. "It wasn't
the prettiest of games, but when you're feeling good about yourself,
you have confidence you can come back."

The Griffins can add to
that streak Saturday night against Rochester, and next Friday against
Texas. After that, they'll play four of their next five games on the
road until Dec. 1.

"We've played so well, it just happens so
many of the games have been at home," Janik said. "We're definitely a
confident team. We don't panic and we've clawed our way back."...Griffins coach Curt Fraser said teams need to take advantage of playing
at home. In fact, 23 of the AHL's 29 teams had winning records going
into Friday's game. But none match the Griffins' 8-0 start.

"You're
supposed to take advantage, and we have been taking advantage," Fraser
said. "We didn't play that well for the first two periods tonight, but
when the game was on the line, we came to play. You find ways to get the job done and tonight was a perfect example. In the third period, we found a way to win."

The
Griffins' penalty killing had been particularly strong at home in
fending off 31-of-33 chances by opponents. Both Milwaukee goals came on
the power play.

"It's something we have to find a way to fix," Fraser said.

In the multimedia department, the Griffins' website posted a 9-image photo gallery, audio clips of Janik, Fraser, and Rissmiller's post-game comments, and a YouTube-formatted highlight clip:

For the record, Chris Chelios was held off the scoresheet as his Chicago Wolves defeated the San Antonio Rampage 4-2 on Friday.